Digital Face Filter Helps Adults Remember More Childhood Details

Adults recalled significantly more childhood memories when viewing their digitally aged-down faces. Cambridge researchers had 50 participants watch live video feeds of themselves for 90 seconds. Half saw their faces transformed by a “baby face” filter. Those viewing younger versions provided richer descriptions of childhood events with more sensory details and emotions compared to controls seeing unaltered faces. The technique only improved episodic memories where people mentally relive specific moments, not factual memories about their past. “All life events are experienced while we inhabit our body,” wrote study author Utkarsh Gupta from Anglia Ruskin University, exploring whether bodily self-representation connects to memories. The illusion worked regardless of how strongly participants felt ownership over the younger face. (Story URL)